What is Photo Sphere?
We are all familiar with the Panorama feature which is present in most of the digital cameras of today. A panorama captures a wide-angle view of a scene by smoothly merging multiple photographs into a single continuous photo strip. Generally, the coverage of a typical panoramic strip is linear; which means it only captures images along one axis.
Photo Sphere takes this concept to a whole new level. Instead of focusing only on the line of sight, a Photo Sphere tends to capture the entire 3D world around you. It consists of a series of photographs merged together to form a complete 3D environment. In fact, you can actually navigate along the image in full 360 degrees. A Photo Sphere captures the world in your own perspective – a sphere of the surroundings with you at the center!
Photo Sphere Camera app was originally released for Android devices and it's now available in Appstore for iOS users. It uses the iOS device's rear camera and gyroscope to capture panoramic views in 360 degree perspective using photo stitching techniques.
To create a Photo Sphere, point the camera to the dot (see screenshot above) and the device will automatically starts the capture process. The more dots you cover the more complete your Photo Sphere becomes.
These are the welcome screens you'll see when you run the app for the first time.
You can use the app even if you don't have a Google account but to use all the features such as sharing the photo spheres in social media and to publish your spheres to Google Maps, signing-in to Google is required. By sharing your photo spheres, you'll help others to explore the world!
If you're an iOS user and you want to give it a try, download it from this link.
Don't forget to share your 360-degree panorama/"spheres" on the comment box provided below.
